Most of the modern internet is indistinguishable from what we used to call malware
Every site is trying to pull a Bonzai Buddy now.
"We need all your info for advertising, not you can't opt out unless you make an account and give us your email. Oops, looks like I hid the opt-out under a subheader. Amazon is now profiling you."
WE USED TO CALL THAT SHIT A VIRUS.
ITS EVERY. FUCKING. WEBSITE. NOW
"Hi I'm going to block this entire site until you give me your info, this is very cool and normal."
Capitalism ruined the internet. The whole thing is malware now.
This reminds me of a particularly cursed enshittification dream I had where I was in a bar restroom and the soap dispenser was blocked unless you downloaded their app and created an account.
Too late, it’s real. I tried to use a public toilet in Sweden once with QR code payment lock on the door. I couldn’t get the fucking thing to work while I was in the middle of doing the gotta go dance so I ran up the street and found another public toilet at a place that still had an actual human person taking coins.
Yeah. It's hard to find one where you don't pay, and they tend to be nasty or uncomfortable for other reasons (men really need to learn to sit down for cleanliness' sake smh + public drunkness being allowed means being shitfaced and all that entails is also allowed) - in Germany there are toilets on most trains and highway parking lots (not truck stops/gas stations!)
A company called Sanifair has a de facto monopoly on public toilets and they want as much as 1€ per visit.
Not sure if true, but the reason why the USA doesn't have paid ones is an organized vandalism campaign against them in the 1970s according to something I once read.
Well I'm not in the USA, just living in another Angloid country.
I mean yeah you're sort of right, it's a gamble finding clean public toilets because it's up to the city/town's council to invest in constant cleaning from their budget. The city near me where I work has their main public toilets very well looked after, so I'm used to the high standard.
That really depends on the country. In Denmark you wouldn't expect to have to pay, although a few places charge people. Often this is done more as an anti-homeless thing than as a revenue generation thing.
In Germany you should expect to pay for a public toilet visit. Enforcement varies, from just a dish of coins with a sign urging you to "tip" the cleaning staff, over a grumpy looking lady sitting next to the dish, shaming you with her eyes to leave a "tip", over said lady only handing you the key to the restroom after you've paid her to having actual turnstiles preventing freeloaders from relieving themselves. As far as I understand this tipping culture exists as a result of the cleaning staff being paid dogshit wages so you should absolutely leave a tip if you're able to.
I can't remember how it is in Sweden but I don't remember it as being as pervasive as in Germany.
I visited a cousin recently and he took me to his gym for a workout, and according to him they replaced half the mechanical weights with DIGITAL WEIGHTS. That you need a special band AND an account for. Because why? Novelty? It's not like anyone reads the spam emails we're all forced to slog through to even participate in society.